Seats for the "wider" driver!

oaktree11 · #1 26th August 2011, 22:11

One of the attractions of the Sportster for me is that it is wider than the 7'esque clones.

I am really interested in what seats other builders have chosen? I would like to fit the widest I can without modifying the chassis at all. I suppose I would lean towards the comfort end of the seat spectrum rather than the purist racing type seat!

The seats in my 320 are rather comfortable....

Patrick · #2 26th August 2011, 22:30

Cobra Roadster 7's they pinch a bit if I have a winter coat on, otherwise they're fine and I'm not a 'small' person. Makes for good hold in the corners though

oaktree11 · #3 26th August 2011, 22:40

Thanks for the quick reply Patrick. They look like agood seat, are the slots for the seatbelts essential?
I guess I need to sit in a few of the options, I am what people politely describe as "prop forward build"! (not surprising, I have played in that position for over 40 years!)
I was looking at Toyota MR2 seats has anyone tried them?

Patrick · #4 26th August 2011, 23:02

The seat belt holes are optional but they belts sit much better through the holes than they would over the top:

You can't pass IVA with just the seat holes as Cobra don't have suitable EU documentation to say they're strong enough to withstand a crunch. I had to add the seat belt bar anyway after my first go at SVA. I omitted the cobra logo from my order, I got them direct and had them finished with vinyl I supplied so the whole interior would match.

oaktree11 · #5 27th August 2011, 06:47

I have to say that your interior looks great. It shows how attention to detail matters. The Cobras look even better in the car and the matching trim really works.
Just so I am clear, will the car pass SVA with the holes in the seat IF the seatbelt bar is fitted?
I suppose I am going to have to get into the detail of the SVA sooner rather than later...

Mike · #6 27th August 2011, 06:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by oaktree11

One of the attractions of the Sportster for me is that it is wider than the 7'esque clones.

I am really interested in what seats other builders have chosen? I would like to fit the widest I can without modifying the chassis at all. I suppose I would lean towards the comfort end of the seat spectrum rather than the purist racing type seat!

The seats in my 320 are rather comfortable....

Hi Oaktree
I am building a Cabrio , which is narrower than the Sportster and wanted good quality seats, and have managed to fit A4 Sports seats with all the adjustment that comes with them (except height, as they have to be set as low as possible). I have altered my transmission tunnel, but don't know whether you could get away without. I'll measure the new seat space and let you know what you need.

This is what I did:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikes_b...57603853068706
Mike

timbo · #7 27th August 2011, 07:25

Hi
I had some Cobra seats which, when I measured them up, didn't quite match the IVA head restraint criteria. So I got some temporary black recliner seats - comparison here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3310545...in/photostream
which passed ok, and no requirement for the seatbelt bar (rather surprisingly, but may vary from tester to tester??).
I found that you need a very narrow but very tall seat in order to (i) fit (ii) meet IVA requirements.
Hope this helps
Tim

Patrick · #8 27th August 2011, 09:23

Thanks

Yes with the seat belt bar added they passed SVA with the belts going through the holes. The bar is higher up than the holes.

There's more details on my SVA issues here: http://www.msportster.co.uk/sva-day/

MartinClan · #9 27th August 2011, 17:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by oaktree11

One of the attractions of the Sportster for me is that it is wider than the 7'esque clones.

I am really interested in what seats other builders have chosen? I would like to fit the widest I can without modifying the chassis at all. I suppose I would lean towards the comfort end of the seat spectrum rather than the purist racing type seat!

The seats in my 320 are rather comfortable....

I fitted seats from an early MX5. They have the advantage of a proper steel frame and adjustable back rake. At the time someone was selling retrim kits in leather which I also took advantage of.

Robin

oaktree11 · #10 27th August 2011, 21:53

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I do like the idea of fitting seats from a production car - the MX5 for example. I dont have my chassis yet (well, I do but not at home - long story!). Could someone tell me how much room there is to play with in the sportster in terms of available width?
I was looking at this for example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-MX5-...item45fbadf955

MartinClan · #11 30th August 2011, 07:49

Those look similar but not identical to the MX5 seats I used. The headrests are bigger. I suspect those are from an imported car. (Eunos was the name for the car in Japan I beleive)

The MX5 seats are a tight squeeze - I had to fit the drivers seat on the passenger side and vice versa. I re-used the runners giving about 3" of adjustment before the transmission tunnel got too wide.

Robin

Chris Cussen · #12 30th August 2011, 08:10

Looks like IVA testers vary from one to another. My cabrio passed with Cobra 7 seats, with slots, and no bar. The only issue the tester had was the slots were 1mm too low. Just 1mm. I persuaded him the cushion would compress under my weight and after a bit of umming and aaaring he let it pass. I was the first IVA test he had done though....

oaktree11 · #13 23rd November 2012, 20:29

Hi all, I have resurrected this thread because I am looking at how to fit the MX5 seats that I now have.

I just wondered how the rest of you fitted the seats to the floor. I am considering mounting the subframes to two flat steel plates welded between the tunnel and the sidefame.

I just didnt want to reinvent the wheel!

Thanks

John

MartinClan · #14 24th November 2012, 16:55

I used the original MX5 runners and some spacers made from 25mm box section as I recall. Bolted straight through the galvanised steel floor with some penny washers underneath to spread the load. SVA man was happy.

The galvanised steel floors are at least as strong as a production car and mine are fixed with stainless pop rivets and bonded with sikaflex so they aren't going anywhere....

I am sure there are some pictures on my original website somewhere.

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/martincla...s_modified.jpg

oaktree11 · #15 24th November 2012, 17:55

Robin,
Actually you have answered the question I should have asked-ie are the floors themselves strong enough to bolt the seats to. Right now mine are just laying there and look a bit flimsy but I can see that when riveted and bonded they would be quite different.
That reassures me. What I am going to do is temporarily fit the floors with a few rivets then position and fit the seats.
The reason for this activity is that I have a welder coming to reposition the bump stops and I would like him to weld the cross bar on the roll over bar and I want to measure from the actual seat position.

Btw, what seatbelts did you use? They look cool

Thanks for the help - John

NigelB · #16 24th November 2012, 19:32

I thought for a long time about this and whether the floor needed strengthening at all. I came to the conclusion that all the floors need to do is support the weight of the seat and driver which is a vertically applied force. The galvanised floor panels, firmly secured at regular intervals to the steel lips around the chassis will do this adequately. Any other forces on the floor / seat joint resulting from sudden changes of speed either fore and aft or laterally would be countered by a good quality 3 or 4 point harness. In fact the only reason the seats need to be secured is to stop them moving backwards under hard acceleration and then not being able to reach the brake pedal (and even worse, not being able to keep your right foot on the accelerator!!).

Radical thinking probably but I'm pretty sure to basic Marlin set up is strong enough.

timbo · #17 24th November 2012, 20:06

There are some interesting tips and diagrams in the IVA manual. I used 'load spreader plates' ie 100 x 100 x 4mm steel plates bolted to the underside of the floor panels under the rear seat runner mounts. The basic premise was to prevent the bolts ripping through the floor in the event of a sudden stop (crash) as the front bolts will want to push down on the floor and the rear bolts will want to lift up. Maybe I was being overly-cautious. They did not attract any comment from the IVA man anyhow.

I also took the opportunity to weld the securing bolts to the bit of the seat runner which attaches to the seat, thus when removing the seats, all I have to do is lie under the car and remove the 4 bolts and the seats lift straight out. Although make sure the holes line up exactly or they are a b..... to put back in

Tim

peterux · #18 24th November 2012, 20:54

Just to add to the options....
I mounted my seat runners through steel strips across the floor. The strips were bolted to the floor edge lips just to add a bit of stiffness and spread the seat load.
Like Robin, I also used stainless steel pop rivets to fix the floor to the chassis.

Drivers seat by marlinpeter, on Flickr

......peter

denniswpearce · #19 25th November 2012, 08:08

My seats are bolted via the runners straight through the floor panels and are quite easy to remove. Its a bit of a stretch to reach the inside bolts from the edge of the car on your own.
Going to replace the carpeting soon as its a poor job. How much does one need ?

GreatOldOne · #20 25th November 2012, 10:09

All I can remember is ordering far too much Den. Probably twice as much as I needed. I know I bought the carpet from woollies trim - ill see if I can find the invoice later